Should Your Community Theater’s Social Media Marketing Plan Include a #CustomHashtag?

As Social Media Today points out, Twitter is a very busy, very noisy marketplace; processing over 350 billion tweets daily has its drawbacks! Custom hashtags are a great way to help your tweets stand out and increase search-ability.

Benefits of Using a #CustomHashtag

When your community theater uses a #CustomHashtag as part of your social media marketing plan you will:

• Increase awareness and visibility of your community theater.
• Encourage engagement and conversations between your organization and your followers.
• Organize related content and media for both you and your like-minded audience members – this makes it easy to find.

Best Practices for #CustomHashtag Use

1. Do your research before you start using your #CustomHashtag. Be sure that your choice is specific, easy to remember, and isn’t already in use. You can conduct this type of research through a Twitter search.
2. Register your #CustomHashtag. This can be done through Twubs.com, and will help you create a great landing page for your hashtag, a customizable feed, and keep you up-to-date on the use of your hashtag.
3. Include it in ALL of your social and print promotional materials. A #CustomHashtag is only useful if your audience and followers know about it! Be sure to use it in all relevant social media posts, as well as in relevant print promotional material.
4. Track your #CustomHashtag. Try creating a custom stream to track your hashtag. Social media management applications, such as Hootsuite, can help you with this!
5. Fuel the conversation. Make sure to engage with your followers that are using your #CustomHashtag – retweet, thank them for the share, or @reply if they have any questions or concerns.

And remember, #CustomHashtags aren’t just for Twitter! They can also be used cross-platform; Facebook, Google+, LinkedIn, Instagram and Pinterest all recognize and organize content using hashtags.

Are you interested in reading more about Twitter for your performing arts marketing plan? Check out some of our previous blog posts on the same topic:

• Twitter for your Performing Arts Marketing Plan: The Basics
• Twitter for your Performing Arts Marketing Plan: Attract the Right Followers
• Twitter for your Performing Arts Marketing Plan: A Little Light Reading
• Twitter for your Performing Arts Marketing Plan: Extra Goodies for the Social Media Manager
• 3 Awesome Tips to ‘Up’ Your Community Theater’s Social Media Marketing Impact

And if you’re still getting your Twitter channel up and running, we highly recommend that you check out our free, downloadable Twitter basics checklist!